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Morgan Stanley banker sees 10 to 15 more tech IPOs in 2024, and a 'better year' in 2025 2024-04-29 20:39:00+00:00 - Following a long period of waiting, "the IPO market's back." That's according to Colin Stewart, Morgan Stanley's global head of technology equity capital markets. In an interview with CNBC's "TechCheck" on Monday, Stewart said 10 to 15 more tech companies could go public before the end of 2024, with an even "better year" in store for 2025. "It's been a long two and a half years, where we've had really nothing," Stewart said. Recent initial public offerings have priced high and traded well, which "bodes well for the future," he added. The lull began in 2022, when soaring inflation and rising interest rates pushed investors out of risk, slashed tech valuations and led many tech companies to delay their plans to go public. It was a sharp contrast to the prior two years, which saw a record number of deals, including some at astronomical revenue multiples. The IPO market cracked open in September, with the debuts of Instacart and Klaviyo . But the first real signs of momentum came last month, as Reddit became the first IPO for a major social media company since Pinterest in 2019 and data center connectivity chip company Astera Labs rocketed on its first day of trading. Both stocks remain well above their IPO price, with Astera up about 145% as investors pour money into all things tied to artificial intelligence. Morgan Stanley was the lead banker on the Reddit and Astera IPOs, positioning itself to collect roughly $37 million in total fees. Wall Street rival Goldman Sachs led the latest venture-backed tech IPO last week. Rubrik , which develops data management software, jumped 16% in its New York Stock Exchange debut.

Sue Bird says joining ownership group of the Seattle Storm felt inevitable 2024-04-29 20:36:57+00:00 - SEATTLE (AP) — Becoming a part-owner of the only WNBA franchise she ever played for felt like an inevitability for Sue Bird. It’s one more thing Bird is adding to an already busy agenda in retirement. “I don’t think there was a matter of timing. … It’s not about this being the right time, or wrong time, or really anytime,” Bird said on Monday. “I feel like it was kind of inevitable, and a lot of ways something I always wanted, something that I’ve always had in the back of my head. And then for whatever reason this is just when it worked out.” The Seattle Storm announced last week that Bird would be joining the ownership group for the franchise adding an expected piece to her business portfolio that’s helping define the post-playing part of her career. There is Bird’s production company “A Touch More,” founded with fiancée Megan Rapinoe. There’s her media and commerce company — “TOGETHXR” — that was founded with Alex Morgan, Chloe Kim and Simone Manuel. She’s also a part-owner of Gotham FC in the NWSL. And now there’s her piece of the Storm. As fellow Storm co-owner Lisa Brummel quipped, “I don’t even think I would call her retired. Whatever. She’s not playing anymore.” “She had a lot to do during the past year and this was a great time to be able to kind of bring our joint interests together,” Brummel said. Bird was the No. 1 overall pick by Seattle in the 2002 WNBA draft out of UConn and played 19 seasons for the franchise. She retired after the 2022 season as the league’s career assists leader with 3,234. Bird was part of WNBA championships with the Storm in 2004, 2010, 2018 and 2020. She was also heavily involved in the business aspects of the league as a player serving on the executive board of the players association during her career. That experience and acumen can be beneficial now on the ownership side. “But that is from a player’s perspective. So the way I view it is I can take that with me, bring that to the ‘room,’ but I also understand there is a lot to learn and a lot of curtains to pull back,” Bird said. “And I’m really excited about understanding the business side of things and then combining all that and bring whatever value I can bring.” Bird said she isn’t sure how active of an owner she’ll be — other than wanting a key fob to be able to access the team’s new $64 million training facility. “Obviously I’m clearly passionate about women’s sports. I clearly believe in it. I clearly want to continue to push it forward and that’s really, truly my agenda,” Bird said. ___ WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

How major US stock indexes fared Monday, 4/29/2024 2024-04-29 20:26:30+00:00 - Stocks edged higher as Wall Street readies for a week packed with potentially market-moving news. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.3%. Amazon and Apple will report their latest earnings results this week, along with roughly a third of the companies in the S&P 500. The Federal Reserve will also announce its latest decision on interest rates Wednesday, with virtually everyone expecting it to stand pat. The U.S. government’s monthly jobs report will hit on Friday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.61%. On Monday: The S&P 500 rose 16.21 points, or 0.3%, to 5,116.17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 146.43 points, or 0.4%, to 38,386.09. The Nasdaq composite rose 55.18 points, or 0.3%, to 15,983.08. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 14.03 points, or 0.7%, to 2,016.03. For the year: The S&P 500 is up 346.34 points, or 7.3%. The Dow is up 696.55 points, or 1.8%. The Nasdaq is up 971.73 points, or 6.5%. The Russell 2000 is down 11.05 points, or 0.5%.

Paramount says CEO Bob Bakish is stepping down, will be replaced by a trio of executives 2024-04-29 20:26:00+00:00 - Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish is stepping down, the company announced Monday, as merger negotiations with Skydance Media continue. Bakish climbed the corporate ladder after joining Viacom in 1997, until he became CEO of the company in 2016. Following the merger of Viacom and CBS, he became CEO of the combined company in 2019, which was later renamed Paramount Global. He is also leaving the company’s board of directors, Paramount said Monday. Bakish will be replaced by what the company called an “Office of the CEO.” Paramount will now be led by CBS president and CEO George Cheeks; Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks; and Brian Robbins, the head of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon. The company said the three executives will work closely with Paramount CFO Naveen Chopra and the board. In the release Monday, Paramount said the new leadership is “working with the board to develop a comprehensive, long-range plan to accelerate growth and develop popular content, materially streamline operations, strengthen the balance sheet, and continue to optimize the streaming strategy.” Paramount also reported its first-quarter earnings after the bell Monday and held an earnings call during which the newly appointed company heads gave a brief statement and said they would be back “in short order” to share details on future plans. Chopra led the call, which lasted under 10 minutes and didn’t include questions from analysts. Streaming boost The company posted mixed results for the first quarter, beating on earnings but missing on revenue. Paramount reported 62 cents per share for the period, excluding items, versus estimates of 36 cents a share, according to analysts polled by LSEG. For revenue the company posted $7.69 billion versus analyst estimates of $7.73 billion, according to LSEG. Overall revenue was up 6% compared with the same period last year, propelled by streaming and the Super Bowl. The company’s direct-to-consumer streaming segment, which includes flagship service Paramount+, Pluto TV and BET+ saw revenue rise 24% to about $1.88 billion. Paramount said it added 3.7 million Paramount+ subscribers during the quarter, bringing the total to 71 million. Losses related to streaming narrowed to $286 million compared with losses of $511 million during the same period last year. Advertising revenue in the streaming segment was up, largely due to the Super Bowl, which aired in February on CBS, cable TV channel Nickelodeon and Paramount+. Similarly, advertising revenue in Paramount’s TV media unit, which includes broadcaster CBS and cable TV channels such as MTV and Nickelodeon, grew 14% due to the Super Bowl. The top NFL event provided a boost during what has been a sluggish advertising environment for traditional TV networks. Still, streaming platforms and digital companies have reported advertising revenue growth, indicating the market is rebounding, at least for those areas. Overall, TV Media revenue was up 1% to $5.23 billion. Affiliate and subscription revenue fell 3% as cord-cutting continued, and licensing and other revenue dropped 25%, including the impact of the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes on content available for licensing. Revenue for Paramount’s filmed entertainment unit increased 3% to $605 million due to the releases of “Mean Girls” and “Bob Marley: One Love.” Bakish departure Bakish’s ouster comes as Paramount and Skydance Media inch closer to a possible merger, CNBC previously reported. The companies are in exclusive talks to pursue the deal until May 3, and a special committee is already in place. Bakish has privately dissented against the merger, claiming it will dilute common shareholders, CNBC reported. As part of the proposed deal, nearly 50% of the merged company would be owned by Skydance and its private equity backers, while common shareholders would own the remainder of Paramount, which would remain publicly traded. On Saturday CNBC reported Bakish could be out as CEO as soon as Monday, and ahead of the earnings call, after losing the trust of Paramount Global controlling shareholder Shari Redstone, who could see his removal as a means to accelerate a Skydance deal, CNBC reported Monday. The departure also comes as Paramount has been in negotiations with cable company Charter Communications for the carriage of its TV networks including CBS and MTV. The deadline for those negotiations is Tuesday. The special committee — which is in charge of accepting or rejecting transactions — and Skydance, which is backed by private equity firms KKR and RedBird Capital Partners, have been narrowing in on how to value Skydance’s assets as part of a merger, as well as how much equity to add to the company, CNBC previously reported. Skydance intends to name its CEO, David Ellison, as head of Paramount if the deal happens, CNBC previously reported. — CNBC’s Alex Sherman contributed to this report.

IMF approves immediate release of final $1.1 billion tranche of $3 billion bailout to Pakistan 2024-04-29 20:24:38+00:00 - KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The International Monetary Fund on Monday approved the immediate release of the final $1.1 billion tranche of a $3 billion bailout to Pakistan, the global lender said in a statement. Pakistan needs the money to overcome one of the worst economic crises in its history that had raised fears it could default on the payment of foreign debts. As part of the bailout conditions, the government was required to reduce subsidies intended to cushion the impact of rising living costs. This contributed to an increase in prices, especially energy bills, and angered the public. Islamabad also imposed new taxes, another unpopular move. But an IMF official said the country’s “determined policy efforts” have brought progress in restoring economic stability. Moderate growth has returned, external pressures have eased and, while still elevated, inflation has begun to decline, said Antoinette Sayeh, the IMF’s deputy managing director and chair, in the statement. “Given the significant challenges ahead, Pakistan should capitalize on this hard‑won stability persevering — beyond the current arrangement — with sound macroeconomic policies and structural reforms to create stronger, inclusive and sustainable growth,” Sayeh added. Last month, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said Pakistan planned to seek a long-term loan to help stabilize the economy after the end of the current bailout package. He didn’t provide a figure but officials have previously said they want another $8 billion from the IMF over three years.

Seller of fraudulent N95 face masks to refund $1.1 million to customers 2024-04-29 20:15:00+00:00 - COVID patient's strange symptoms save her from undiagnosed liver disease COVID patient's strange symptoms save her from undiagnosed liver disease 02:31 A company alleged to have fraudulently sold a face mask as N95-grade must refund more than $1.1 million to customers nationwide, the Federal Trade Commission announced Monday. Razer and its affiliates advertised the Zephyr mask as N95-grade despite never submitting it for testing or certification by the Food and Drug Administration or National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the agency said. In ads and posts on social media, the Zephyr masks were touted as the equivalent of an N95 that would protect users from COVID, the FTC stated in a complaint. "These businesses falsely claimed, in the midst of a global pandemic, that their face mask was the equivalent of an N95 certified respirator," Samuel Levine, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. "The FTC will continue to hold accountable businesses that use false and unsubstantiated claims to target consumers who are making decisions about their health and safety." Advertisement featuring Razer's Zephyr mask. Federal Trade Commission Starting in October of 2021, the Zephyr mask and three sets of filters sold for $99.99; the Razer Zephyr Starter Pack containing a mask and 33 sets of filters sold for $149.99; and a Razer Zephyr Filter Pack containing 10 sets of filters sold for $29.99. A representative for Razer couldn't immediately be found for comment. Razer and its related businesses are also barred from making COVID-related misrepresentations or unsubstantiated claims about protective equipment, the FTC said. In addition to covering full refunds to customers misled about the product they were buying, the sellers will pay a civil penalty of $100,000.

How one nonprofit is turning to AI to help boost women's financial literacy 2024-04-29 20:13:00+00:00 - Aire Images | Moment | Getty Images Most Americans consider money to be a private topic, and women are among those most reluctant to engage in financial conversations. But not asking the questions they need help with can hold them back financially, experts say. One women-focused nonprofit has launched a new way to help them get faster answers to their queries through the use of an online AI chatbot. The organization, Savvy Ladies, was founded more than 20 years ago by Stacy Francis, a certified financial planner and president and CEO of Francis Financial in New York City. After seeing her grandmother stay in an abusive situation because she lacked financial resources, Francis created the nonprofit with the goal of helping other women avoid similar situations. watch now The new chatbot — provided through Microsoft Copilot — allows visitors to the Savvy Ladies website to type in their financial questions and receive immediate answers curated from the website's content written by CFPs and other financial professionals. "We want to make sure that we are able to help anyone, any woman who has a question," said Francis, who is also a member of CNBC's FA Council. "This is something that she can go on literally at 3 a.m. and be able to get her question answered." That first engagement always closes with a prompt via the Savvy Ladies' helpline for a one-on-one conversation with a professional who can provide advice and guidance. "We want everyone to learn and grow in their knowledge, but still feel that they're they can come and ask their own individual question and get matched," said Judy Herbst, executive director of Savvy Ladies. AI tools can't replace financial advice Artificial intelligence language models may play an important and evolving role in financial literacy, said Michael Roberts, the William H. Lawrence professor of finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. But today's tools are still developing and are a complement to — rather than a replacement of — our own personal financial knowledge and decision making, he said. "To use these tools, you have to be able to engage with them; but to be able to engage with them, you have to be able to know what questions to ask, [and] how to ask them," Roberts said. "And you have to be able to understand the responses coming back at you." Due to the fast rate of progress in this space, it's hard to forecast where these tools will be even in another year or two, Roberts said. Individual investors are already showing signs they are starting to embrace these tools. Investors are more likely to trust advice from generative AI tools than from social media, according to a survey released last year from the CFP Board, a professional organization representing professional financial planners. Yet they are more likely to be comfortable acting on that advice once it has been verified by a financial planner, the results found.

With Paramount in Chaos and Its Future Uncertain, Its Chief Steps Down 2024-04-29 20:04:24+00:00 - Shari Redstone, the owner of Paramount, has tried to resist the erosion of her media empire over the last decade as she confronted the death of cable TV, the rise of streaming and even a failed boardroom coup from a longtime ally. By her side through it all has been Bob Bakish, Paramount’s chief executive. For years, she saw him as a loyal lieutenant who could navigate the treacherous entertainment industry with the financial dexterity of the management consultant he once was. As Paramount’s share price sagged, she was patient with him — even as she steered the company toward an eventual sale that he had reservations about. That patience officially ran out on Monday. Mr. Bakish is stepping down effective immediately, Paramount announced on Monday, a stunning shake-up in the top ranks of the company as it considers a major merger. Mr. Bakish, 60, will be replaced by an “office of the C.E.O.” run by three executives: Brian Robbins, head of the Paramount movie studio; George Cheeks, chief executive of Paramount’s CBS division; and Chris McCarthy, chief executive of Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios.

Trump supporters target Black voters with bigoted radio ads 2024-04-29 20:03:14+00:00 - Donald Trump and his allies are trying to appeal to Black voters with overpriced sneakers, fried chicken, past-their-prime rappers and, now, some plain old bigotry to boot. In recent months, Trump-allied groups have begun running radio ads targeting voters in largely Black areas that push a raft of offensive claims as they seek to undermine support for President Joe Biden. The ads were highlighted by sports journalist Jemele Hill over the weekend during her coverage of the NFL draft in Detroit. "Don’t know if people have heard these ads Trump’s campaign is running on urban radio but they are WILD,” Hill wrote, “as in wildly filled with massive misinformation, sprinkled in with some bigotry.” Hill didn't share an example, but a similar-sounding ad called “Our Communities” was launched by the pro-Trump organization MAGA Inc. in March and schedule for airtime in Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania. The ad is chock-full of MAGA misinformation. In it, a narrator claims that Biden is “letting Mexican cartels pump drugs and fentanyl into our streets,” that he’s “busing rapists and murderers into our communities,” and that the “crooks in Congress are handing our tax dollars to illegals.” It’s hard to choose where to start with the corrections. Trump has promoted racist generalizations of Mexican immigrants as drug-dealers, killers and rapists from the moment he publicly launched his first campaign bid in 2015, despite that data shows immigrants tend to commit crimes at lower rates than U.S.-born citizens. There’s certainly no evidence the Biden administration is letting cartels “pump drugs” into American streets. In fact, there’s ample evidence to the contrary. And despite zero-sum rhetoric about immigrants receiving jobs, privileges and welfare benefits over American citizens, these claims keep being proven false. The ad also pushed anti-trans bigotry, underscoring a phenomenon I've highlighted in the past: Trump and his minions trying to spread their anti-trans agenda through Black communities. The narrator claims Trump will “protect our daughters’ sports teams” from “men competing against women” and “stop the sexualization of our children.” Experts who oversee women’s sports have said trans people’s involvement doesn’t rank anywhere near their industries’ top issues. And let’s just say that Trump is an unusual choice when making the case against sexualizing children. The ad is an obvious attempt to indoctrinate Black voters with a MAGA worldview. But it was so packed with bigoted propaganda, it felt like it needed a disclaimer at the end like a prescription drug ad. Perhaps a fast-talking narrator at the end could note that side effects of electing Trump include attacks on Black election workers, installation of judges who’ve gutted Black voting rights, accusations against largely Black cities of election fraud, vows to shield police accused of violent misconduct, open association with neo-Nazis and white supremacists, a full-on assault on Black history in schools, and routine public attacks on Black women.

As home sellers, buyers wait on a Fed cut, here's how mortgage rates have impacted the spring housing market 2024-04-29 20:03:00+00:00 - People looking to buy or sell a home this spring are paying close attention to mortgage rates. The average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rose to 7.17% for the week ended April 25, according to Freddie Mac data via the Federal Reserve. The rate was 7.10% the prior week. Buyers and sellers may not see any relief soon. It remains unclear when the Fed might make its first rate cut. Experts anticipate policymakers will continue to hold rates steady in this week’s meeting and will trim borrowing costs in the second half of the year. “I believe our first rate cut is penciled in for July,” said Matthew Walsh, assistant director and economist at Moody’s Analytics. Until then, average mortgage rates might continue to bounce around between 6.5 to 7.5%, Walsh said. “We might not see rates fall in any meaningful way until [the] later half of this year,” he said. Rates will keep ‘buyers and sellers on their toes’ “The biggest thing when we’re looking at mortgage rates right now is volatility,” said Nicole Bachaud, a senior economist at Zillow Group. While some buyers have come to terms with 7% interest rates, the volatility of rates is “really the thing that’s going to impact the [housing] market the most,” Bachaud said. When rates bounce around from week to week, a buyer looking into a house one day might not be able to afford the same property the next day, she said. The swinging movement of rates is “going to keep buyers and sellers on their toes for longer than expected,” Bachaud explained. For example, a homebuyer hoping to secure a $400,000, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage might have gotten a rate of about 6.82% in early April, according to Freddie Mac and Fed data. That works out to a monthly mortgage payment of around $2,613. Two weeks later, rates were hovering at 7.10%. That slightly higher rate adds $75 to the monthly mortgage payment, or $27,000 over the life of the loan. Even a 1 percentage point difference may not sound like much, but it can mean almost $200 more on a monthly mortgage payment, said Jacob Channel, a senior economist at LendingTree. Would-be buyers are paying attention to the math. For the week ended April 19, the mortgage application demand dropped 2.7% compared with a week earlier, as average 30-year fixed-rate mortgages jumped from 7.13% to 7.24%, according to recent data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey. The spring housing market is 'getting back to normal' “The spring housing market this year is somewhat getting back to normal,” Bachaud said. Some areas are experiencing more sales with buyers getting used to the higher rates and looking for ways to make it work, she said. Even so, more sales are expected to happen at the end of May and early June, she said. That’s also when sellers tend to get the best prices. To that point, in 2023, homes listed in the first two weeks of June sold for 2.3% more, a $7,700 boost on a typical U.S. home, according to an earlier Zillow analysis. “I’d say we’d probably also see a later spring season this year,” Bachaud said.

The Supreme Court has many other cases than Trump’s immunity claim to resolve 2024-04-29 19:58:08+00:00 - Timing is a crucial factor in Donald Trump’s federal election interference case. So now that his Supreme Court immunity appeal has been argued, a big question is: When is the opinion, which is standing in the way of a trial, coming? The court doesn’t announce ahead of time when specific opinions will be issued. But we can read the tea leaves in the context of the justices’ usual practice. The bottom line is that, while the court could always surprise us, little about its treatment of the appeal so far points to a speedy ruling. For starters, let’s look at where we are in the court’s term. Trump v. United States was the final hearing, meaning the justices are now focused on writing the remaining opinions in cases argued since October. In thinking about the timing of the immunity decision, then, consider that there is much, much more to be decided besides that important case. Among others, the justices are crafting pivotal rulings on guns, abortion, gerrymandering and appeals striking at the core of how government functions. So it’s a monumental term even if you don’t consider Trump, notwithstanding the Supreme Court as a motivating factor for his 2016 election and his resultant three appointments — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Indeed, another of the court’s important cases this term that doesn’t directly involve Trump also will affect him — namely Fischer v. United States, the appeal from an alleged Jan. 6 rioter that challenges one of the statutes Trump is charged with in his Jan. 6-related case. The presumptive GOP presidential nominee has pleaded not guilty in all four of his criminal cases, one of which is on trial in New York. Typically, the Supreme Court wraps up its decisions by the end of June, which is why some of the most contentious and historic ones come then. That isn’t an official deadline, because the current term technically runs through the beginning of the next one in October. But late June is a fair deadline to keep in mind and is likely what the justices are aiming for with all their rulings. Given the other pivotal cases on deck, it may be more of a question of how the justices prioritize the Trump immunity ruling against their other work. Given the other pivotal cases on deck, it may be more of a question of how the justices prioritize the Trump immunity ruling against their other work. Viewed that way, the prospect of a quick ruling is a mixed bag, at best. On the one hand, the justices could have punted consideration of the case into next term when they took it up in February. But their scheduling of the argument was only so expedited, because they put the case on for literally the last hearing day of the term. Plus, the hearing itself displayed differences of opinion among the justices over how to sort out the case, suggesting that it won’t be easy to do so quickly, even if that’s what the court as a whole wanted to do. All of this points toward a ruling in Trump’s immunity case coming around that crush of crucial decisions in late June. Depending on what that ruling says exactly, it may be too late for the Jan. 6-related case to get to trial before the election (if Trump wins that election, he could kill the case in which he is alleged to have unlawfully tried to overturn the last presidential election). The court could always surprise us with a sooner decision than that. But it hasn’t given us much reason to expect one. In any event, don't be surprised to see those other rulings come first. Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for weekly updates on the top legal stories, including news from the Supreme Court, the Donald Trump cases and more.

Mexican man wins case against Cartier after buying $13,000 earrings online for $13 2024-04-29 19:56:00+00:00 - A typo on Cartier's website that incorrectly priced a pair of gold-and-diamond earrings ended up being a costly mistake for the luxury jewelry retailer. A consumer in Mexico said in a post on social media platform X that he was idly browsing Instagram when he came across the shockingly low-priced pair of earrings. Typically 237,000 pesos, or more than $13,000, the jewelry was listed for sale for 237 pesos, or about $13, the New York Times reported. It appears Cartier omitted three zeros, sheerly by mistake. When Rogelio Villarreal, a Mexican doctor, saw the low price, he broke out in a cold sweat, he said in the post. Upon clicking to purchase the earrings, Villarreal unwittingly kicked off a monthslong dispute with the luxury retailer that even drew interest from public figures. Initially, Cartier tried to cancel the order altogether and compensate Villarreal with a bottle of champagne and leather accessory to apologize for the inconvenience it had caused, according to reporting from Agence France Presse. But Villarreal deemed the offer unsatisfactory, and instead raised the case with Mexico's federal consumer protection agency. Villareal told the New York Times that Cartier had informed him it had fulfilled his order. "War is over. Cartier is complying," he said in an April 22 post. Cartier did not immediately respond to CBS MoneyWatch's request for comment. Mexico's federal consumer protection agency also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Villarreal posted an image of two small wrapped boxes with Cartier's signature wax stamp, indicating the earrings had arrived. Not everyone was as happy as the buyer with the outcome. Mexican Senator Lilly Téllez weighed in, saying in a post on X that she didn't think Villarreal should have been entitled to keep the earrings simply because a retailer had made a mistake. "Kids: What the buyer of the Cartier earrings did is not correct,"the senator wrote. "It's wrong to be opportunistic and take advantage of a mistake at the expense of someone else, and abuse the law, even if it's in your favor, and outwit a business. It is more important to be honorable than to have a pair of Cartier earrings."

Two 2024 tech laggards are driving the stock market higher Monday — here's why 2024-04-29 19:29:00+00:00 - Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. (We're no longer recording the audio, so we can get this new written feature to members as quickly as possible.) Two laggards do the lifting: The market was up on Monday, extending last week's rebound. Driving the S & P 500 higher, ironically, are the two "Magnificent 7" stocks that have underperformed all year: Tesla and Apple . Tesla jumped more than 15% after CEO Elon Musk visited China and received approval from the Chinese government for its driver-assistance system. Apple is higher after a long-time bear at Bernstein research turned bullish, surprisingly days before an earnings report that is expected to be weak. But on Bernstein's side: Everyone already knows about Apple's problems in China. There's been a news report about sluggish iPhone sales practically every week this year. Bernstein thinks Apple's weakness in China is more cyclical than structural and that the company's outlook could serve as a "clearing event" for the stock, much like it did in 2019 and 2023 after lackluster sales for the iPhone XS and 14. Discipline calls: We trimmed our Wells Fargo position this afternoon. It was a sale made out of discipline, as the stock's strong performance since the beginning of March — up 8% vs the S & P's less than 1% gain — pushed the weighting of this long-time Cramer fave bank to our 5% threshold. The trim also comes ahead of two big economic events later this week. "The banks' charts are great, but there are two events this week that could hurt the group: the Fed meeting Wednesday and the jobs report Friday," Cramer explained. "If we didn't have so much Wells Fargo stock, I wouldn't worry." Up next: Huge day tomorrow. Eaton , GE Healthcare , and Eli Lilly report earnings before the opening bell. All three are off to good starts in 2024 and outpacing the broad market S & P 500. Other big reports include PayPal , 3M , McDonalds , and Coca-Cola . And those are just the companies reporting in the morning. After the bell, we hear from Amazon , Starbucks, and a couple of AI/data center chip stocks — Advanced Micro Devices and Super Micro . (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED. Apple's Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook attends the China Development Forum in Beijing on March 24, 2024. Pedro Pardo | AFP | Getty Images

Supreme Court will hear case claiming CBD product got trucker fired 2024-04-29 19:09:34+00:00 - WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear an appeal from a CBD hemp oil maker fighting a lawsuit from a truck driver who says he got fired after using a product falsely advertised as being free from marijuana’s active ingredient. Douglas Horn says he took the product to help with chronic shoulder and back pain he had after a serious accident. The company said it contained CBD, a generally legal compound that is widely sold as a dietary supplement and included in personal-care products, but not THC, which gives marijuana its high, Horn said in court documents. After a failed routine drug test got him fired, Horn says he confirmed with a lab that the product did have THC. He sued the Vista, California, company under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, among other claims, alleging the THC-free marketing amounted to fraud. The law known as RICO was crafted as a tool to prosecute organized crime, but people can also file civil suits under it against alleged schemes and collect triple the damages if they win. An appeals court found Horn’s claim should be allowed to go forward. Medical Marijuana, Inc. appealed that decision to the Supreme Court. The company disputes Horn’s claims and argues that he can’t sue under RICO because he’s claiming a personal injury. Other appeals courts have dismissed RICO suits in similar circumstances, the company said, making this case a good one to decide on a nationwide rule. Horn, for his part, says his firing was a business injury and he’s been financially ruined. The case will be heard in the fall.

Affluent Americans are driving U.S. economy and likely delaying need for Fed rate cuts 2024-04-29 18:48:00+00:00 - Since retiring two years ago, Joan Harris has upped her travel game. Once or twice a year, she visits her two adult children in different states. She’s planning multiple other trips, including to a science fiction convention in Scotland and a Disney cruise soon after that, along with a trip next year to neolithic sites in Great Britain. “I really have more money to spend now than when I was working,” said Harris, 64, an engineer who worked 29 years for the federal government and lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Back then, she and her now-ex-husband were paying for their children’s college educations and piling money into savings accounts. Now, she’s splurging a bit and, for the first time, is willing to pay for first-class plane tickets. She plans to fly business class to Scotland and has arranged for a higher-level suite on the cruise. “I suddenly realized, with my dad getting old and my mom dying, it’s like, ‘No, you can’t take it with you,’ ” she said. “I could become incapacitated to the point where I couldn’t enjoy something like going to Scotland or going on a cruise. So I better do it, right?” Older Americans like Harris are fueling a sustained boost to the U.S. economy. Benefiting from outsize gains in the stock and housing markets over the past several years, they are accounting for a larger share of consumer spending — the principal driver of economic growth — than ever before. And much of their spending is going toward higher-priced services like travel, health care and entertainment, putting further upward pressure on those prices — and on inflation. Such spending is relatively immune to the Federal Reserve’s push to slow growth and tame inflation through higher borrowing rates, because it rarely requires borrowing. Affluent older Americans, if they own government bonds, may even be benefiting from the Fed’s rate hikes. Those hikes have led to higher bond yields, generating more income for those who own such bonds. The so-called “wealth effect,” whereby rising home and stock values give people confidence to increase their spending, is a big reason why the economy has defied expectations of a sharp slowdown. Its unexpected strength, which is contributing to stickier inflation, has forced a shift in the Fed’s plans. As recently as March, the Fed’s policymakers had projected that they would cut their benchmark rate three times this year. Since then, though, inflation measures have remained uncomfortably high, partly a consequence of brisk consumer spending. Chair Jerome Powell made clear recently that the Fed isn’t confident enough that inflation is sustainably easing to cut rates. When the Fed meets this week, it is sure to keep its benchmark rate unchanged at a 23-year high, the result of 11 rate hikes. The Fed’s hikes have forced up borrowing costs across the economy — for everything from home and auto loans to credit cards and business loans. Even as the Fed has jacked up borrowing costs, stock and home values have kept rising, enlarging the net worth of affluent households. Consider that household wealth grew by an average of 5.5% a year in the decade after the 2008-2009 Great Recession but that since 2018, it’s accelerated to nearly 9%. Stock prices, as measured by the S&P 500 index, are about 72% higher than they were five years ago. Home values soared 58% from the end of 2018 through 2023, according to the Federal Reserve. All told, Americans’ wealth has ballooned from $98 trillion at the end of 2018 to $147 trillion five years later. Adjusting for inflation, the gains are less dramatic, but still substantial. “People have had significant wealth gains in stocks, significant wealth gains in fixed income, significant wealth gains in home prices, significant wealth gains even in crypto,” said Torsten Slok, chief economist at the Apollo Group, an asset manager. “All that adds up to still a very significant tailwind.” The gains are hardly universal. The wealthiest one-tenth of Americans own two-thirds of all household wealth. Still, wealth for the median household — the midpoint between the richest and poorest — rose 37% from 2019 to 2022, the sharpest rise on record since the 1980s according to the Fed, to $193,000. Wealth is also disproportionately held by older Americans. People ages 55 and over now own nearly three-quarters of all household wealth, up from 68% in 2010, according to the Fed. In percentage terms since the pandemic, household net worth has also surged for younger households. But because younger adults started from a much lower level, their gains haven’t been anywhere near enough to keep pace with older Americans. “The baby boomers are the richest retiring generation we’ve ever had,” said Edward Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research. “Not everybody is well-off, but we’ve never had a retiring generation with this much wealth. That’s one of the major reasons why the economy is strong.” That said, many older Americans face significant financial challenges. One-quarter of Americans over age 50 have no retirement savings, according to a survey by the AARP. Even so, as the huge baby boom generation has aged and, on average, has accumulated more assets, they have accounted for a rising share of consumer spending. Americans ages 65 or over supplied nearly 22% of consumer spending in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available. That’s the highest such figure on records dating to 1989, up from about 16% in 2010. One result of the Fed’s higher rates has been a kind of bifurcated economy, by age. Older, wealthier Americans who already own homes and cars have been much less affected by the Fed’s rate hikes. By contrast, younger Americans are enduring a combination of expensive home prices and high mortgage rates, making it much harder to buy a first home. Harris, for one, sees this divide in her own family: Her home and car are paid off, and higher interest rates have had little effect on her finances. She recently visited a home in her neighborhood that she was surprised to see priced at $500,000. She bought hers, which she thinks could fetch a higher price, for $162,000 in 1991. Her 25-year-old daughter, Ruby, had a vastly different experience during a recent visit to an open house near her boyfriend’s apartment in the Boston area. An older two-bedroom apartment was on sale for $800,000; it sold within a week. Ruby considers herself fortunate to have a well-paying job as a materials engineer. But that apartment price still seemed astronomical. She loves the area, especially for its walkability, but doubts she’ll ever be able to afford a house there. “In the long term, it probably won’t be affordable to stay here,” she said. “Whereas the Midwest is more affordable but won’t have the neighborhoods that I like.” Economists calculate that while the wealth effect generally has a relatively modest effect on spending, it may be larger now. That’s because retirement-age Americans, who are more likely to spend out of their wealth, constitute a larger proportion of the nation: Americans ages 65 and over make up about 17% of the population, up from 13% in 2010. And people with stock holdings can now easily access their account balances online, increasing their awareness of increases in their net worth. Research by Michael Brown, an economist at Visa and others has also found that significant stock market wealth typically boosts spending on discretionary items such as restaurants, travel and entertainment — sectors of the economy where spending is surging and inflation remains elevated. The Conference Board, a business research group, asks Americans in its monthly survey of consumer confidence whether they plan an overseas vacation in the next six months. Slok noted that more than one in five households say they are — a record-high proportion on records dating to 1967. The cruise provider Royal Caribbean just reported blowout earnings and strong demand, “leading to higher pricing for all our key products,” CEO Jason Liberty told investors. “Customer sentiment remains very positive, bolstered by resilient labor markets, wage growth, stabilizing inflation and record-high household net worth.” Last week, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, excluding volatile food and energy costs, rose 2.8% from a year earlier, a sign that inflation remains sticky. Solid consumer spending, particularly on services, was one key factor. In one measure of services inflation that the Fed watches closely, prices climbed 3.5% from a year earlier, far higher than is consistent with its 2% inflation target.

Mining firm BHP offers $25.7bn settlement for Brazil dam disaster 2024-04-29 18:29:00+00:00 - The mining company BHP has said it hopes to secure a $25.7bn (£20bn) settlement over the 2015 Samarco disaster, when the collapse of a dam left at least 19 people dead, 700 homeless and spread unprecedented levels of pollutants across the rivers and landscape of Brazil. BHP said it had offered the settlement to the Brazilian authorities in partnership with fellow miner Vale, its 50:50 joint venture partner in a local subsidiary, Samarco. The Fundão dam, owned by Samarco, collapsed on 5 November 2015, releasing a deluge of mining waste near Mariana, in the Minas Gerais region of Brazil. The accident also began a long series of legal claims against BHP, the Australian mining company which had its primary stock market listing in London at the time of the disaster. The world’s largest mining company said that it and Vale had put forward a proposal worth a total of 127bn Brazilian reals (£19.9bn), although some of that sum has already been paid. Under the terms of the proposal, the two companies would agree to pay $14.4bn over the course of “well in excess” of a decade, to Brazilian national, regional and municipal governments. They would also fund a further $3.6bn in compensation and clean-up efforts via the Renova Foundation, which was set up in the wake of the disaster. The remainder of the settlement, $7.7bn, has already been spent via the foundation, including $3.5bn that has gone directly to about 430,000 affected people. The proposal by BHP and Vale would wrap together existing agreements with Brazilian authorities with outstanding claims by various government bodies in a single settlement. BHP, the world’s largest mining company, moved its primary stock market listing to Australia in 2022. But at the time of the accident its main listing was in London, where its annual meetings were visited by protestors. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Business Today Free daily newsletter Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion They were demanding greater compensation for a disaster that unleashed the largest spill of tailings – mining waste – in history. BHP announced its settlement proposal to investors after speculation in the Brazilian press. It said: “The negotiations between the parties are ongoing and no final agreement has been reached on the settlement amount or terms.” Last week, the London-listed mining company Anglo American rejected a “highly unattractive” £31bn takeover approach from BHP.

Amazon says more packages are arriving in a day or less after hefty investment in speedy fulfillment 2024-04-29 18:28:00+00:00 - Amazon says it is getting even more packages to customers in one day or sooner, a metric the e-retailer is promoting to customers as it faces heightened competition in online shopping. The company said on Monday that nearly 60% of orders placed through Prime in the top 60 U.S. metro areas in the first quarter arrived the same or next day. That is up from roughly 50% in the second quarter of 2023. It is a topic that will be of notable interest to investors when Amazon reports first-quarter earnings after the close of trading on Tuesday. Wall Street expects the company to post another quarter of double-digit revenue expansion and for profits to more than double from a year earlier. Cost-cutting efforts, cloud-computing demand and faster fulfillment have driven higher profits in recent quarters. Speedy delivery is a hallmark of Amazon’s Prime subscription offering, which charges members $139 a year for benefits such as two-day shipping and video streaming. The company has said it wants to make same- and next-day delivery the standard, and it plans to double the number of same-day delivery facilities in the U.S. within the next few years. “As we get items to customers this fast, customers choose Amazon to fulfill their shopping needs more frequently,” CEO Andy Jassy wrote in his letter to shareholders earlier this month. “And we can see the results in various areas including how fast our everyday essentials business is growing (over 20% y/y in Q4 2023).” According to RBC Capital Markets data, consumers have been shown to spend and shop more often if they have one-day shipping. Amazon’s physical footprint swelled between 2020 and 2022 as the pandemic-driven e-commerce boom pushed the company to rapidly add new warehouse and delivery centers to its logistics network. Amazon last year retooled that network into eight regions instead of a national model, which the company says has resulted in faster yet cheaper deliveries. Jassy in his shareholder letter noted that cost to serve, or the cost to get a product to a shopper, was down in 2023 by more than 45 cents per unit year over year. Amazon has already stood up more than 55 same-day delivery sites in the U.S., primarily clustered around major metro areas. The facilities are roughly 100,000 square feet, compared to a typical Amazon warehouse, which can be the size of 26 football fields, and they store a smaller selection of goods that are the top-selling items in each city. Same-day sites also condense the fulfillment process, typically spread across multiple Amazon facilities under one roof. A package makes fewer stops on its route to a shopper’s doorstep, which cuts down on costs per shipment. Amazon has bolstered investment in fast shipping as traditional retail rivals Walmart and Target have stepped up their delivery game. Walmart says it can deliver items to shoppers in as little as 30 minutes, while Target in March launched a new loyalty program that offers same-day delivery on orders more than $35 in as little as an hour.

Why Trump’s lies about his ongoing criminal trial in N.Y. matter 2024-04-29 18:19:14+00:00 - Donald Trump’s criminal trial is well underway in New York City, and inside the Manhattan courtroom, the former president’s lawyers are doing their best against overwhelming evidence. But just outside the courtroom, the defense attorneys are saying very little about the case, while their client seems eager to try parts of the case in public. The New York Times reported over the weekend: Donald J. Trump spent the bulk of the past week in a Manhattan courtroom, standing trial as the first American president to face criminal prosecution. He is accused of falsifying business records to cover up an affair with a porn actress ahead of the 2016 election. Even though he did not take the stand as opening statements got underway, he took to the cameras to argue his case each day the court was in session. The Times highlighted several of the key claims the Republican has pushed over the last week or so, including: “Nobody’s been able to say what you’re supposed to call” Michael Cohen’s hush-money invoices. Cohen “got in trouble. He went to jail. This had nothing to do with me.” The Federal Election Commission “took a total pass on it. [FEC commissioners] said essentially nothing was done wrong or they would have done something about it.” “I’m not allowed to defend myself, and yet other people are allowed to say whatever they want about me.” “This is all a Biden indictment.” None of these claims is true. In fact, they're demonstrably ridiculous. Most don’t even make sense to anyone with even a passing familiarity with the basics of the allegations. The prosecutors’ indictment has made the details of the hush-money invoices plain; Cohen’s hush-money payments obviously have a great deal to do with his former client; the FEC is deadlocked, but it never exonerated Trump or absolved him in this case; the former president is facing a gag order, though that hasn’t stopped him from defending himself practically every day since he was charged; and the idea that President Joe Biden is orchestrating a local criminal case in New York is absurd. But “Trump lies a lot” isn’t exactly a breakthrough story. Given his track record, it’d be a bigger surprise if the presumptive GOP nominee managed to tell the truth about the case. What strikes me as notable, however, is how the former president’s allies might respond to fact-checking like this. They are, after all, going out on weak limbs, telling the public that this case is meritless and that Trump has nothing to worry about. If that were true, why is it, exactly, that the suspected felon is lying uncontrollably about the basic details? If this doesn't make his sycophantic allies a little nervous, they're not paying close enough attention.

Tesla stock rises after CEO Musk scores key deals with China on weekend trip to Beijing 2024-04-29 18:06:00+00:00 - Tesla shares jumped as much as 18% on Monday after CEO Elon Musk met with a top Chinese government leader on Sunday in Beijing and reportedly received backing to roll out its advanced driver-assistance in the country. Shares of Tesla jumped $25.66, or 15%, to $193.95 in afternoon trading after touching an intraday high of $198.87. Musk's visit to China comes just as the nation's carmakers are showing off their latest electric vehicle models at the Beijing auto show. Chinese Premier Li Qiang told Musk that he hopes the U.S. will work more with China on "win-win" cooperation, citing Tesla's operations in China as a successful example of economic cooperation, China's state broadcaster CCTV said on its main evening news program. Officials told Tesla that Beijing is giving a tentative greenlight for the automaker to roll out its "full self-driving" software in China, according to the Wall Street Journal. The much-needed stock boost comes as the automaker struggles with decelerating domestic EV sales and mounting competition. For China, Musk is a welcome antidote to the tough talk from U.S. officials, which played out most recently during a visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Li's remarks also reflect China's efforts to attract foreign investment to boost its flagging economy. It wasn't clear whether Musk would visit the auto show, which runs through this week. Chinese automakers and startups have launched a bevy of electric cars in recent years, some going head-to-head with Tesla and undercutting the American maker on price. But Musk's visit was more than just a show of support for China's fast-growing EV market, but an attempt to obtain approval to bring Tesla's full self driving software (FSD) to the country, reported Bloomberg. Tesla has a major manufacturing base in Shanghai for both domestic sales in China and exports to Europe and other regions. It cut prices in China a week ago, dropping the Model 3 to 231,900 yuan ($32,700) and the Model Y to 249,900 yuan ($35,200), following similar reductions in the U.S. Tesla's most productive plant During their meeting, Musk told Li the Shanghai factory is Tesla's "most productive plant globally," reported Bloomberg, which also reported that Musk scored a mapping deal with Chinese tech giant Baidu, as well as data-collection clearance — two huge victories for the billionaire. The surprise visit by Musk was a "watershed moment" for Tesla, Wedbush analysts Dan Ives, John Katsingris, Steven Wahrhaftig and Sam Brandeis, said in a research note. "In a major moment for Tesla, Elon Musk made a surprise weekend trip to Beijing ... with a laser focus on cutting the ribbon on the long awaited rollout of FSD software and permission/approval to transfer data overseas," the analysts said. "If Musk is able to obtain approval from Beijing to transfer data collected in China abroad this would be pivotal around the acceleration of training its algorithms for its autonomous technology globally. We also believe this trip will be significant for Tesla and Musk further strengthening its EV footprint within the Chinese market at a pivotal time," they added. An earlier CCTV online report said that Musk had come at the invitation of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and met with its president, Ren Hongbin, to exchange views on further cooperation and other topics. The European Union has launched an investigation into Chinese subsidies for the EV industry that could lead to tariffs on electric vehicles made in China, potentially including Tesla cars. The green energy subsidies have helped transform the Chinese auto market, with EVs reaching about a quarter of new car sales last year, eating into demand for gasoline-powered vehicles. Foreign automakers such as Volkswagen and Nissan are scrambling to develop new EV models to hold onto or claw back market share in China, the world's largest automobile market.

African nation threatens Apple with legal action over alleged "blood minerals" in its gadgets 2024-04-29 17:51:00+00:00 - Johannesburg — The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has threatened U.S. tech giant Apple with legal action over what it says are "illegally exploited" minerals from the impoverished nation in its products. U.S. and French lawyers representing the DRC's government sent a letter to Apple on April 22 warning the company it could face legal action if it continues with the alleged practice. The letter accuses Apple of purchasing minerals smuggled out of the DRC into Rwanda, where their origin is allegedly obscured so they can find their way into the global technology supply chain. It makes clear that the DRC government intends to address the matter and is looking into legal options to do so. The letter sent by the lawyers to Apple CEO Tim Cook includes a list of questions laying out the DRC's concerns over alleged "blood minerals" in Apple's supply chain, and it demands answers within three weeks. Similar letters, seen by CBS News, were also sent to two of Apple's subsidiaries in France, demanding answers in the same timeframe. An Aug. 17, 2012 file photo shows a Congolese man digging for cassiterite, the primary ore of tin, at a mine in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Marc Hofer/AP "Apple has affirmed that it verifies the origins of minerals it uses to manufacture its products," the letter notes. "It says that the tin, tungsten, tantalum — the 3Ts — and gold that its suppliers purchase are conflict free and do not finance war. But those claims do not appear to be based on concrete, verifiable evidence." Amsterdam & Partners, the law firm representing the DRC government, has written a 53-page report outlining the claims against Apple, entitled "Blood Minerals: Everyone sees the massacres in Eastern Congo, but everyone is silent. The laundering of DRC's 3T Minerals by Rwanda and by private entities." In their letter to Apple, the lawyers said that in the process of preparing their report, "it has become clear to us that year after year, Apple has sold technology made with minerals sourced from a region whose population is being devastated by grave violations of human rights. The iPhones, Mac computers and accessories that Apple sells to its customers around the world rely on supply chains that are too opaque, and that are tainted by the blood of the Congolese people." Apple did not directly reply to some questions sent by CBS News about how it traces critical minerals in its supply chain all the way back to the ground from where they're sourced. In its response, Apple indicated that third-party entities carry out the verification work on behalf of the company. A Miner holds tantalum stones in Numbi, in South Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo, in an April 28, 2010 file photo. Kuni Takahashi/Getty In its statement to CBS News, Apple said: "Every smelter and refiner in our supply chain participated in independent, third party minerals audits for tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold. And when we see an issue we act, last year we removed 14 refiners and smelters from our supply chain." "While we're proud to be recognized as leaders in responsible sourcing, we understand our work is never done," Apple said. The company noted a line from its most recent annual conflict minerals report, which said that based on its third-party audit and traceability programs, "we found no reasonable basis for concluding that any of the smelters or refiners of 3TG determined to be in our supply chain as of December 31, 2023 directly or indirectly financed or benefited armed groups in the DRC or an adjoining country." The DRC's mineral-rich Great Lakes region has been mired in violence since war broke out in the 1990s. In late 2021, a group called the March 23 Movement, or the M23 rebels, emerged as a rising player among the warring local militias. Getty/iStockphoto The United Nations, many Western governments and the DRC all accuse Rwanda's government of backing M23 in a bid to control and exploit their much larger eastern neighbor's vast mineral resources. A Rwandan government spokeswoman, Yolande Makolo, was quoted Friday by the French news agency AFP as calling the DRC's claims of critical minerals being smuggled through Rwanda, "a rehashing of baseless allegations and conjecture." The exploitation of the DRC's resources is not a new story. A CBS News investigation in 2018 followed the complex supply chain of cobalt mined in the DRC. It found children working in the mines there to extract the cobalt, a key mineral component in modern batteries for virtually all cellphones, laptops, electric vehicles and a range of other ubiquitous gadgets. "Words don't comprehend the enormity of what is happening in the DRC, and it's not an issue that can be left without a result," Robert Amsterdam, one of the lawyers representing the DRC government, told CBS News. "We have to challenge what is really a global big lie — that somehow a country like Rwanda, which is mineral poor, can be responsible for exporting these massive quantities." "The DRC is sitting on a near monopoly of the critical ingredients of the green revolution," Amsterdam added. "The DRC president was reelected recently and the issue of getting the minerals right is one of the key planks he is going to pursue." Amsterdam said that while Apple is not the only major tech company suspected of using unethically sourced minerals in its hardware, they singled out the U.S. tech giant because it "prides itself on principle and morality — and they might have the courage to do what is right. This is not just an issue of lawsuit, but sovereignty." "We have listed very precise questions to Apple, and then we will look at various judicial options in the U.S. and France," another lawyer on the team, Paris-based William Bourdon, told CBS News about the next steps. "It is precedent-setting, in many ways, as the [DRC] government has decided at the highest level that they have to bring accountability to bear," said Amsterdam. Bourdon said he was not aware of any other government considering similar legal action over a global supply chain issue. "It's unprecedented," he said. "This is a very big deal, which we are just at the beginning of. Expect more to be coming."